Card interpreter



Dec. 6, 1932. T. E. HuRNs E1' AL CARD INTERPRETER Filed NOV. 22, 1930 swg-"- n 0C? RE ANBocP R H A Soc? RES TGVH NE 6.? ESF U N5 CF R F U ANSOCPD ES U NB CP E LLMA NBoc DRESF M NorFURE F LL A OCPD ESF /A A//M feg, 4.

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INVENTORS Patented Dec. 6, 1932 i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE THOMAS E. HUBNS AND ARTHUR Y.' LESLIE, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNORS T0 REMINGTON RAND INC.,

0F BUFFALO, NEW YORK CARD INTERPRETER Application led November This invention relates to means for facilitating the ready identification of perforated cards such as are used in connection with automatic accounting, classifying, and similar machines wherein the machine operation -is controlled by the relative positions of perforations in cards utilized therewith. The perforations on the cards may, for instance, designate the name of a customer.

In such cards, a common practice is "to provide a series of perforations, the vertical position of which determines the letter which it represents, and, as it is not usually feasible to provide approximately twenty-six different positions as to height of the perforations, 1t has been found convenient to have each positior represent more than one letter and` to combinethe perforations relatively with other perforations (termed herein key perforations) indicating the specific character which any perforation represents. For example, a perforation normally indicative of the letter C may when associated with a key perforation, indicate the letter O instead, as will hereinafter become clearly apparent. Obviously, cards so perforated if not provided with any written description of their si cance are extremely difficult to identi by sight, and if they are misplaced, cannot be readily read to determine the name of the customer and where the belong in the les. Accordingly, it is an ob]ect of this invention lto providea reading device or interpreter to which such a card may be applied and which will readily'show through the perforations the information required.

A further object is to provide such a device which will make use of the key perforations of the card in operating an arrangement of characters to bring them into the correct register with the perforations ofthe said card, so that the proper characters which the said perforations are intended to represent maybe read' therethrough, even thou h the position of the perforationemay be t at of more than one character. v

Still further objects and advantages subsidiary or incidental to the aforesaid objects, or resultin from the construction'or operation of the invention as it may be car- 22, 1930. 4serial No. 497,585.

ried into effect, will become apparent as the I I may provide a board having a series of char-P acter bars arranged in parallel slidable juxtaposition, and each provided with all of the characters which may beprepresented by the perforations of the card with which the device is to be used. These bars are movable in the direction of their length to upper and lower positions in the board and a latch is provided for each bar to lock it in its uppermost position, this series of latches having opposed thereto a corresponding series of releases capable of combined latch-'releasing movement but independently. yieldable in vtheir support, so thatone or moreof them may be interrupted to provide selection in their releasing operation. This selection is determined by the arrangement of the ke perforations in the card which is to be rea and, in operation, that part of the card containing the key perforations is interposed between thc releases and the latches so that only those releases which can pass through 'the key perforations may operate the latches. Consequently, only such character bars as are aligned with .the key perforations will be released when the series of releases are operated for that purpose.

'I he character bars are provided with means to effect their downward movement in the board when so released, whereby the -operation of the releases through the key perforations will result in the shifting of certain of the character bars in relation to the other character bars, thus selecting a different series of letters or characters on such shifted character bars for the registry with the reading perforations of the card.

If the card be then laid over the character may be read therethrough quite easily and the v information desired, therefore, readily obtained.

All of which is more particularlyf described '100 `tion, thus maintaining and ascertained hereinafter, by way of example, having reference to the-accompanymg -drawing wherein: a

Figure l is a fragmentary plan of the 1nterpreter with the character hars in their normal raised position;

Figure 2 represents part of a perforated card, the signicanceof the perforationspf which are to be read, the said perforations 1ndicating the name of John Doe; .i

Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1, indicating the position of the bars after the portion of the said card containing the key perforations has been inserted beneatl1` .1,the-

releases and certain of the bars shifted as a result of the operation of the said releases' the position of the reading perforatlons of the card being indicated by dotted circles on said bars so that the reading ofl the name John Doe from left to right is quite apparent ;l

Figure 4 is a section taken on the line 4*'-4 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a section taken oli the line 5"-5x of Figure 4 and Figure 6' is a section taken on the line Similar characters of reference indicate similar parts in the several figures of the drawing, and Figures 4,' 5, and Gare drawn to a somewhat larger scale than are the other gures ofthel drawing;

1 indicates a board mounted in a frame 2 and supporting a parallel series of character bar 3 independently slidable in the direction of their length upwardly and downwardly of the said board, each character bar being provided underneath its upper end with a pin or projection 4 adapted to engage a spring latch 5 when the bar is in its normal or upper posiit in such' position against the reaction of the spring-6 tending to move the bar to its lower position'. Each of the bars is provided with a series of characters, as shown,`and the extent of the shifting of the bars between their upper and lower positions is that of the spacing of said c aracter. Thus, by shifting any'bar upwardly or downwardl one character is made to assume the position previously occupied by the adjacent character on the said bar.

Each latch 5 is provided near its free ex-y tremity with a member 7 extending upwardly through a/corresponding perforation in the frame 1, so that the upper ends of these members are presented as a series of depressible buttons inthe upper marginal portion of the said frame; and above these buttons extends a housing 8 presenting a forwardly opening slot 9 and enclosing a latch-releasing device which comprises a series of plungers or releases 10.corresponding in number and osition to the said members 7 of the latches, and

ypoised thereabove in a holder 11 in which the said plungers are vertically movable against the yieldin actions of springs 12 with which the said p ungers are provided. The said holder 11 is malntained in a raised position within the housing 8 by a spring 13 against 4the resistance of which the said holder may be depressed by a manual operation of a knob 14 rovided for-'that purpose..

s seen in Figures 5 and 6, a bar 15, (hereinafter deferred to as the reset bar) 1s opposed to the lower ends of the character bars 3 and normally held against the inner face of the frame 1 by a spring 16, so that, when the said characters are in their raised posi- --tionsfthe reset bar is spaced therefrom to an extent corresponding to the spacing of the letters on each character bar. The said reset bar is provided with a knob or abutment 17 by means of which itmay be pushed inwardly of the frame against the resistance of the said sprin s 16. Thus, by means of the reset bar, the c aracter bars may be moved to their upper latched position, and, by means of the releasin plungers 10 upon the depression of.

- the kno 14, the latches may be released permitting the movement of the said Icharacter bars under the influence of the sprin 6 to heir lower position abutting the sai reset It will be obvious that, after vresetting' the said bars in their latched position, any of the said bars may be released and permitted to move downwardly by simply interruptin certain of the plungers 10 in their downwar movement when the knob 14 is depressed and, in that case, only those plungers which are not interrupted will release their corresponding latches and only those bars so released will move to their downward position.

Attention is now directed to the typical illustration of a card 18, in Figure 2, the erforations 19,20, 21, 22, 23, 24 and 25 of w ich represent the name of John Doe. It will be seen that if such card is superposed on the \character bars in their normal positionl indicated in Figure 1 only the perforations 19, 21, 23 and 25 will show the correct characters,

namely, J, H, D, and E. The perforations 20, 22 and 24 instead of showing O N, and O, respectively, will show C, B, and so that it is evident that to obtain a correct reading, the character bars lbeneath these threeperforations must be moved downwardl to the extent of one character spacing to indicate this difference in the signicance of the perforations. l

Key perforations 26, 27 and 28 are provided in the upper margin ofthe card above the perforations 20, 22 and 24 respectively, and

these perforations tion in the machines perform .a selective func- 1n whlch the cards are i125 f used, which is, however, incidental'and doesVv not involve this invention, so that explanation f such further function is not entered into herein. However, such key perforations are utilized in connection w1th the card nterpreter described by inserting the upper edge of the card through the slot 9 of the housing 8 so that its edges are in register with the inner vertical walls of said housing, whereupon the said perforations 26, 27 and 28 will register with the upper ends of the members 7 of the latches controlling the character bars corresponding to the said perforations. It will now be readily apparent that, upon depression of the knob 14, all of the plungers 10 will be interrupted in their complete downward movement by the presence of the card except those three plungers which are above the said perforations 26, 27 and 28, so that these three plungers alone will continue their downward movement through the perforations of the card and operate the latches of the second, fourth and eighth character bars (reading from the left) thereby permitting these character bars to be moved by the l y springs 6 to their lower positions. Thus, the correct letters O, N, and O will then register with the perforations 20, 22 and 24 when the card is properly superposed on the board. The proper registering of the card for reading after the bars have been selectively set in the manner described may be determined by positioning the left and lower edges of the card against the inner edges of the left and lower margins of the frame.

Obviously the latching, releasing and resetting mechanisms admit of various mechanical forms to produce the same movements of the character bars, and the invention may be de veloped within the scope of the following` claims without de arting from the essential features of the sald invention, that it is desired that the specification and drawing be read as being merely illustrative, and not in a limited sense, except as necessitated by the prior art.

What we claim is: Y 1. In a device of the class described for use with a card having reading perforations and key perforations, a series of longitudinally movable character bars adapted to show characters through the reading erforations of such card and by their position to select the characters so exposed, and means operable through the key perforations of said card for getermining the selective movement of said ars. f

2. In a device of the class described, a series of character bars arranged in parallel and longitudinally sldable juxta-position, latch means for said bars to secure them in one position of their endwise movement, a series of releases for operating said latch means, and selective means for determining the unlatching operation of said releases for the selective control of the movement of Isaid bars.

3. In a device of lthe class described, a series of character bars arranged in parallel'longiof their endwise movement, a series of releases capable of combined latch-releasing movement, and an operating support for said releases, said releases being independently yieldable in said support whereby one or more of them may be interrupted to provide selection intheir releasing operation.

4, In combination with a card having a series of reading perforations and a series of key perforations as described, an interpreter for such reading perforations including character bars arranged in parallel and longitudinally sldable juXta-position, means for moving perforations and key perforations therei in, a card interpreter including a series of character bars arranged in parallel and longitudinally sldable juXta-position, latch means for said bars to secure them in one position of their endw1se movement, a series of releases operating through the key perforations of l said card for eiecting the selective unlatching of said bars, and means for effecting the endwise movement of said unlatched bars.

In testimony whereof we aiix our signa-v tures. Y

THOS. E. HURNS. v ARTHUR Y., LESLIE.

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